Fenty Buys Votes

The allegations have been swirling for a while now - D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty has been spending money to buy votes in the D.C. election.

Now there looks like some proof:

There's one question that seems bound to consume the final days of the mayoral campaign: Is Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's campaign buying votes?

That has been the lightly-founded rumor among supporters of D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray dating back to a Ward 8 straw poll, back in May.

The allegations got a credibility boost last night from WJLA-TV's Sam Ford, who reported on two people who have come forward to say they were promised campaign jobs in exchange for Fenty votes. The jobs were not delivered.

The charges are serious. With people on the record, complete with names and some corroboration for their story, the Fenty campaign is faced with fighting a story that is difficult to disprove. Fenty sources say they have no record of the accusers getting a ride to the polls in a campaign van -- something that they say is thoroughly documented -- and that drivers are given strict instructions on what and what isn't appropriate. But elections officials confirm that at least one accuser did cast a ballot last week.

When a reporter from the Washington Post went out to investigate the allegations and talk to some Fenty supporters, here's what happened:

It doesn't help that the Fenty GOTV operation has the air of a black-ops mission. Last Saturday, I attempted to interview three voters who were sitting in a Fenty van outside the Greater Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, an early-voting site. I began speaking to one person, munching on a bag lunch, when a driver came and shooed me off. "We're private," she told me.

Gee - that doesn't sound like the open transparent operation Fenty claims to be running.

It sounds more like an operation that is losing but has money to burn to try and turn things around the last few days.

Given that crooks like Democrats for Education Reform and Mayor Moneybags are both supporting Fenty, we shouldn't be surprised about the Fenty campaign tactics - whatever it takes to win.

That's how DFER and Bloomberg operate too.

Throw around the hedge fundie cash and see who takes it.

Next up on the DFER list - Little Andy Cuomo, who of course left a DFER meeting with a bag full of cash.

Ah, yes - democracy for sale.

Given how much money the top 1% have to throw around and accomplish their goals, the United States will be a full-fledged serf nation by the end of the decade.